


Time and Effort

by TsaritsaElena



Series: Twice Upon a Time [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Family Bonding, Father Son Bonding, Gen, Marriage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-07 00:02:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1113104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsaritsaElena/pseuds/TsaritsaElena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Directly following the events of <i><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/1028834/chapters/2048751">Twice Upon a Time</a></i>, Howard acts on his promises to do right by Tony and Maria. In the process, he discovers that building relationships with his son and wife mean putting in the time and effort.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time and Effort

**Author's Note:**

> I've put in a lot of thought to this 'verse--more than it probably deserves. The contents of this chapter may change. Think of it more like a teaser than an actual sequel/companion fic. If you're curious about what else I've got planned for the Twice Upon a Time 'verse, you can read (and feel free to comment on!) some of my ramblings [here](http://tsaritsa-elena.livejournal.com/4184.html).
> 
>  **Disclaimer:** I don’t own any of these characters or copyrighted material, and I’m certainly not making any money or other material profit off of this fanfiction. No copyright infringement is intended.

Surprisingly, Howard landed on his own two feet as he exited the wormhole. Setting down his suitcase, he tore a page out of his notebook and scribbled a hasty note -- _Made it through okay. - H. S._ \-- before tossing it back into the wormhole. He felt a pang of sadness as the portal closed, knowing he would never get to see his son all grown up again.

Sobering a little, he turned his attention to the apple, the three chirping chicks, and the Norn Stones on his workbench, which were not glowing at all. Gingerly, he used his sleeve to pick up the Norn Stone that he had dropped what was two months ago for him, but in this time was no more than a few minutes ago. He dropped it on top of the others and set them aside.

Howard heard a knock on the door. Maria called from the other side, “Howard? Is everything all right? Can I come in? I heard a commotion in there.”

“Yes, everything’s fine, dear. Just a little mishap with an experiment. You can come in now.”

She opened the door, carrying a tray with sandwiches and a side of fruit salad. “I’ve got to run to a charity meeting, but I made you lunch and—are those _chickens_ , Howard?”

He followed her gaze to the chicks chirping and wobbling around on the workbench. “Uh, yes. Yes, they are. Part of a little something Nick wants me to work on. They’ll be staying for a while.” 

“Okay, well, don’t work too hard.” She set down the tray next to him and leaned in to give him a quick peck on the cheek before heading towards the door.

“Wait, wait, Maria!” he called out to her, remembering what he was supposed to do. “That Family Day thing, the one at MIT this weekend? I thought I’d go with you, if that’s okay.”

Maria broke out into a genuine smile. “Of course it’s okay. Tony will be thrilled to see you. Now, I really do have to run, dear, but I’ll tell Jarvis to make any necessary adjustments. Oh, I’m so glad you’re coming!” She smiled once more before retreating, closing the door behind her.

Howard worked overtime all week, eager to complete what he needed to finish for the company, and also to have some very important conversations with Nick Fury, which involved putting the Winter Soldier project on hold, and informing him that he couldn’t make heads or tails of the Norn Stones right now so they should be put in storage for the time being.

Not a day went by that he didn’t miss his son dearly (both the thirteen year old and forty-three year old versions), and he was looking forward to the weekend. Howard couldn’t bear the anticipation of a five hour car ride so they took a plane to Logan and had a car service bring them to their hotel. After an impatient check-in, they were on their way to Tony’s off-campus apartment where he lived with his nanny. After all, he was still just thirteen and as Maria had said, not quite ready for dorm-life on his own. Perhaps next year.

They had the key, but knocked on the door anyway to announce their presence.

“I’ll get it, Sophie!” Tony shouted from the other side of the door. It opened in no time and little Tony cried, “Mom!” before running up to give her a hug. When he withdrew, Maria stepped to the side to reveal Howard. Tony sucked in a breath. “Dad! What—what are you doing here?” He looked uncertain, like he wasn’t sure if he should also give his father a hug, or if it would be rebuffed. Had Howard really given him that little affection? Of course, he knew the answer to that and it was a resounding yes.

He swallowed thickly before saying. “I came to see you, of course!” He tried to make his tone cheery, offering Tony a small smile, but Tony still looked unsure of himself. “Come here, kiddo,” Howard clarified for him and finally Tony smiled before hugging Howard, too. Well, it was a start.

The nanny, Sophie whatshername from Austria (Howard would have to ask Maria later), ushered them in as she gave Howard and Maria an update on Tony’s progress in school and how he’d been fitting in. Howard was horrified when he realized that he was actually _jealous_ of her, and the time she spent looking after Tony.

Howard suggested that Tony give them a tour of the campus, explaining that he hadn’t been here in years and wanted to see what was different. Tony dutifully led the way, at first uncertain and casting glances Howard’s way. As Howard gave him encouraging nods and smiles, Tony seemed to relax, chattering away easily about the robotics project he was doing in this building, or his computer programming class in that building over there.

After he and Maria had seen just the main stretch of campus, the Stark family went for a nice dinner at a quiet restaurant, and to Maria’s questions about friends and classes, Tony spoke happily about some of the group projects he was doing, and how a few of the freshmen had invited him to a _frisbee_ game next weekend and wasn’t that the coolest?

As dinner came to a close, Tony asked, “Are we going back to the apartment now?” but he looked none too happy about it.

“Well, actually, I thought we might catch a movie,” Howard suggested. Tony’s face lit up and something in Howard broke. All day, Tony had smiled in delight to have his father’s attention for once, though he remained uncertain that he could keep it for long, and seemed hesitant to say the wrong thing, lest Howard correct him harshly. He silently thanked the Asgardians even more fervently for those Norn Stones, knowing that he would have missed out on so many father-son moments without his time travelling adventures.

Maria, who had caught on to Howard’s renewed efforts to spend time with Tony a while ago, made a show of yawning and said, “I’m a bit tired from the flight this morning. I think I’ll retire to our hotel for the night. You boys go ahead to the movies without me.”

Howard and Tony dropped Maria back off at the hotel before walking up the street to the nearest movie theater that was showing _WarGames_ , a science fiction thriller that featured a teen Matthew Broderick hacker and an AI program. It was so popular with the MIT crowd that the nearby theaters had started showing it again, even though it had come out earlier that year.

When they left the theater, Tony was all smiles, vowing that he was going to build an artificial intelligence system himself, and not just a computer program but a robot, like the ones in Asimov’s books, only better.

“I thought you wanted to be a superhero?” Howard asked, a knowing smile tugging around the corners of his mouth.

“I do!” Tony insisted, “And I’m going to fly, too. But I’m going to do it with the help of an AI system!”

Howard barely managed to hold back his laughter, knowing that one day, Tony would do just that. “I know you will one day. I believe in you.”

“Really?” Tony turned his head to look up at his father, evidently surprised by the compliment.

“Of course. You can do anything you put your mind to.”

 

The rest of Howard’s time in Cambridge went quickly. Maria made both Howard and Tony attend Sunday mass the next day before returning to MIT for Family Day, which was like a mix between an autumn festival and a carnival. There were plenty of games to try and caramel apples to eat. Howard couldn’t remember when he’d had such a nice day with his family. Then again, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d spent time with his family, period.

At the end of the day, they headed back to the apartment so that Howard and Maria could collect their suitcases before heading out to Logan airport again. But Howard had one last thing to give to Tony.

“Tony, I need to talk to you for a minute, man to man. Can we go over here?” He gestured to the far corner of the kitchen, out of earshot of Maria and Sophie who were chatting quietly in the living room.

They sat down at the kitchen table and Howard took a deep breath. But before he could say anything Tony interrupted, “Is something wrong, Dad?”

He exhaled and said, “No, no, everything’s fine. Just... glad I got to see you this weekend.”

“Me too!”

“Tony... I know I haven’t always been around for you, and I’m sorry,” he began.

“It’s okay, Dad.”

Jesus _Christ_. Just because Tony was still at the age where he’d forgive his parents anything did _not_ mean it was okay. “No, no it’s not okay, Tony, and I want to try harder. You’re in college now, and we won’t get to see each other as often, so I got you this.” Howard pulled out two StarkPads from the briefcase at his side, and handed one to Tony.

“What is it, Dad?” Tony said, turning the tablet back and forth in wonder, eventually finding the on switch.

“This is a very advanced piece of technology that Stark Industries developed for the military. It’s a strictly top secret project that I shouldn’t be showing you at all—I could get all of SI’s contracts revoked if this got out to _anyone_ ,” he fibbed a little to heighten the importance of not letting tech from 30 years in the future leak out for general consumption, “but I trust you to keep this a secret between you and me.”

Tony nodded eagerly. “I promise, I won’t tell anyone, not even Sophie!”

“That’s my boy.” Howard turned on his own tablet and showed Tony how to call up the VoiP program on his. He explained the calling mechanism with the satellite, and how to arrange a meeting in advance before he hit the call button on Tony’s interface.

His own tablet let out a few beeps before he hit the answer button. When Tony realized it was a two-way video call, and that he could actually _see_ , not just hear, the person on the other end, he let out a hushed, “Whoa! Dad, that is so cool! How did you do this?”

Howard smiled, “That’s for you to figure out. So what do you say if I call every other week, hmm? Sundays at noon okay?”

“Yeah!” Tony’s face lit up brighter than the sun, and Howard knew it was worth any messing with the time stream to see him look this excited.

“Your mother and I have to get going now. You be good. Study hard, keep this a secret,” he tapped on the StarkPad, “and you can tell me about the robot you’re building, next Sunday. Deal?”

“Deal!”

Howard bent down to give Tony a hug. “I love you, Tony.”

“Love you too, Dad.”


End file.
